While on his way to visit the Sheriff in Big Horn, Johnny stops at the tiny town of Deer Ford, only to get a cold reception from the townsfolk.; After the school in Shallow Creek burns, miser Abney Streetch volunteers to provide the funds from his bank account in Great Falls. Johnny goes along as a guard, but on the way back the stage is robbed. Over a period of weeks, the townsfolk raise the money for the school themselves. Streetch volunteers to count the bills and coins, with Johnny standing guard, but Streetch slugs Johnny with the butt of a gun and tries to escape with the town's money, in the climax of an elaborate scheme of fraud that started with the burning of the school.